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Red Sky at Morning, Session Six, The Burden of the Sun
Opening The session opened at a sunrise on the beach, with our heroes eagerly opening a black jade treasure chest that had been buried some eighteen hundred years. The chest contained all sorts of trinkets and baubles, none that were terribly earth-shaking, but several quality First Age conveniences. They included a steelsilk bodysuit and robes, a traveler's cloak, a headband, several small wonders useful for a traveler, an enormous Yasal Crystal, and a sizable amount of orichalcum coin. It also contained a letter from Shadow's Grace, a picture of her and her Lunar mate Silken Hammer, and a small spider pendant. They party examined their new treasures, and Dax read and burnt the letter as it instructed. After some experimentation with their new wonders, the party decided to take Leviathan's advice and "tie up any loose ends." They headed to the Standing Stones of Cinnabar. At the Stones, the party was greeted warmly and brought into the tent of Saychel Herek. They were taken by surprise when they ran into Saffron Dolphin and Tepet Ranoa. Amber quickly tried to hint to the two of them to pretend that they were strangers, but Saffron interrupted and tried to act innocently confused as she had just been explaining to Herek that Fern was her mentor. Herek quickly picked up that the party was hiding something from him, decided he didn't want to know about it, and changed the subject. Herek was clearly impressed by Dolphin's knowledge and was even more impressed to find out that Fern's knowledge was even more extensive. There was a bit more talk, and the party requested to visit the site of the Standing Stones. Herek eagerly agreed. The party left the tent and Amber let out a frustrated, but relieved, sigh. Fern examined the Stones carefully with her Essence sight, and found nothing of great interest. A bit more careful examination revealed that the Essence seemed to possibly be waiting for something. An Old Friend Deciding that there was nothing more to do, the party turned their attentions to the large Yasal Crystal they had just acquired. They remembered Syrisie and figured the hag owed the party enough that she could probably summon a potent elemental for them. The party headed to where they had been captured and found a small rocky island. A bit of poking around revealed a tunnel downward to the storm mother's court, and they were about to enter when they heard something splashing behind them. They turned and saw Syrisie standing in a tidal pool before them, a little surprised that she had been noticed. The party, distrustful, requested that she summon an elemental for them. At this, she barely suppressed a smile, and pulled a soulsteel ring out from her robes, hurling it into the air. The sky quickly blackened, and the ring was struck by a flash of lightning. A whirling cloud snaked out of the sky toward the party, screaming and roaring, and suddenly a snakelike head tore out of the center with a fearsome shriek. The hag had summoned a Storm Serpent, and hadn't put much effort into binding it. The party put on a valiant and impressive effort from the start. Amber tore at the being's powers with her Bow, Fern fired guillotine after guillotine, and Largo leaped clear up to the beast's face to engage it with his scythe. Dax jumped up and tried to stab it, but the serpent showed great prowess, blocking each one of his potent attacks with the furious twists and turns of an angry storm. Uninjured but rapidly exhausting, it then caught Largo in an enormous toothy maw. Largo responded by jabbing his scythe into the monster's fleshy mouth, causing it to rear up in pain. Dax ran up into the center of the storm and used its rotational momentum against it, whipping around the inside. It took nearly all its remaining power blocking these rapid blows, combined with the constant barrage from Fern and Amber on the ground below. Sensing the beast weakening, Largo slammed it bodily into the Yasal Crystal on the ground below. Exerting his will over the serpent, it twisted and turned and disappeared into the gem. Syrisie was somewhat taken aback by this turn of events. With a grin, Largo pulled out the crystal he had bought in Gem, and smashed it into her face. The party dropped her crystal in a Winterbreath Jar and continued on its way. The Final Tomb Content with itself and vaguely wondering if there was a way to adjust the temperature of a Winterbreath Jar, the party headed up northward to the coordinates given to them by Leviathan. Along the way, Fern enchanted articles of clothing for Largo and Amber to protect against the cold. On arrival, they found Serentatis and Leviathan waiting for them, along with a stout man with a spear who introduced himself as Piqujait, the Lunar mate of Midnight. They found him gnawing on a rock. Pick and Largo discussed their pasts a bit and found some common ground. Leviathan went up into the Coatl and examined the picture, and seemed absolutely thrilled that the party had indeed slain the chimera that carried the shard of the Silver Voice. With a bit of prodding from the party, he and Serentatis explained that the last Lunar mate of the pack, the mate of Brigid, was none other than Raksi, Queen of Fangs. The shared knowledge of Raksi was spread throughout the party, and Leviathan admitted that even he was not thrilled about the idea of speaking with her. The party seemed insistent, so the Lunars agreed that they would consider speaking with her eventually. The party turned its attention to the tomb. Pick pointed out where the Lunars had determined the best point of entry would be, deep beneath the ice. Fern proposed using a demon that exuded vitriol to work its way down to the entrance. The party waited until nightfall, then summoned a pair of them and placed them in the remaining two Winterbreath jars. The next morning, the demons ate through the ice to the entrance. Upon reaching the doorway, the party discovered a pair of air pockets on either side. Examination didn't reveal anything useful. The party continued into the entrance, which was a small chamber with a single door. The entryway was a series of eight chambers, separated by seven doors, slowly tilting downward more and more until the last doorway was a trapdoor. The chambers also got progressively larger and the later chambers had ice in them. Touching a door revealed Old Realm script to Essence Sight. The first riddle was "The tie between a worm and the sun, between a stone and the wind, from sky to sea to the reaches of Mount Meru." Fern quickly guessed Essence. The next, "The Chosen that inhabit the ground," was solved when the party touched a piece of jade to the door. Amber played music to "The Chosen of the Air, Exalted even by mortal tools, laden not with Essence but a sweeter power." When Fern saw "How could you do such a thing? You're horrible. That's inexcusable. What do you have to say for yourself?" she quickly apologized, and the door displayed "Forgiven" and swung open. The party was slightly stumped on "Forever closed, yet opens wide, to let the other come inside. Gift of twilight to the night, echoing with Sun's Gold Light." Eventually Dax touched his Chain Daiklave to the door. The next was "I eat and men weep. I die and men birth me again. Of five, two are my bane, one is my victim, one my necessary opposite, and one my very being." Largo fired a firewand at it. Finally, the last puzzle door said "Arcadi should get this one." Largo gave it a heavy blow and it shattered, reforming behind them. The party and the three Lunars dropped down into an enormous chamber with lots of ice everywhere, and one last great door before them. Across it were four words, with a small slot underneath. "What is Brigid's Sin?" Before the party could solve the puzzle, they received a call from Saffron Dolphin. Apparently there was some panic at the Standing Stones. The party quickly headed to the ship and were about to depart, when Fern had a vision. The prayers from the Sailing Stone had greatly intensified, and Fern could hear the voice of a little girl. Then she could see her- it was the one that had given her flowers. She was asking for Fern to help. The party realized that the ship could only hope to reach one of the destinations in time. Fern made a choice: She would keep her promise to her followers. She would protect the Sailing Stone. Fear and Sacrifice Dax pushed the Coatl to its limits and rushed to the Sailing Stone. Once there, the party saw an enormous aquatic automata, covered in advanced Essence artillery, bodily ramming the Sailing Stone. Dax swooped low and Leviathan and Largo jumped out. The party wasn't entirely sure what to do against this enormous beast; it was clearly out of their league. But Fern was going to try. The golden and black serpent rose up out of the water again, about to strike the Sailing Stone. The ship landed on the Sailing Stone right as Leviathan rose up out of the water, the enormous whale slamming into the side of the monster and dragging it back under. Amber used her performance abilities to control the panicked crew of the Stone, and Fern just began shaping a Guillotine before the monster turned and began swimming away. Leviathan followed suit, and Largo grabbed hold of him as he passed. The rest of the party quickly jumped back into the Coatl and followed. The serpent dived right as the Coatl caught up to Leviathan, and Fern dived off the ship and caught Leviathan just as he dived. Leviathan, Largo, and Fern all dove deep into the depths of the ocean, but eventually Leviathan gave up and broke for the surface. They had lost the creature. The party went back to the Sailing Stone to find that there had only been a couple of minor injuries, but an inspection of the stone itself revealed that it was heavily damaged underneath and that the creature had came near breaking the Stone in half. Fern quickly instructed the Stone's crew how to make repairs and immediately departed for the Standing Stones. Along the way, Leviathan explained all he knew about the creature they had faced. It had been one of the most potent vessels of the First Age, and was called the Brass Leviathan. Fern recognized the name from stories and legends. It was programmed by the Solar Deliberative and had been running around the Western Ocean ever since the Usurpation, wrecking havoc whenever it encountered, well, anything. He said that he wasn't personally too fond of the contraption despite it being named in his honor. The party flew straight to the camp near the Standing Stones, leaped out of their First Age airship, and flared their animas totemic. The camp was crawling with several bloated blue grasshopper demons. The party wiped out the infestation before it even had a chance to react; Fern sliced one in half, Largo smashed another against a rock, Amber caused the flesh of three to shake violently, and Dax nonchalantly parked the Coatl on top of the stragglers. The party searched the camp and found the survivors quietly huddled in a tent. Dolphin was among them. Herek was not. Much to Dolphin's confusion, Fern asked where Herek was, and Dolphin pointed in the direction of the Standing Stones. The party took off. Arriving there, Fern was discouraged to find no demons and no survivors, but several sets of footprints leading to the center of the structure. Some looked like they had been dragged. In the center of the structure was a rounded, heart-shaped piece of red amber. Additionally, the Stones were now overflowing with Solar Essence; clearly a powerful demesne. Fern spent a couple days summoning demons alongside Serentatis, which they questioned about demonic activity in this area. The only real answers they got were that a gate to Malfeas had indeed opened here, and the only reason was that "It was its time." There was clearly powerful magic blocking the details of the event. Fern sent them back to further research the topic. Between summonings the party patched up the wounded and helped the dig site get back on its feet. The inhabitants, who had now been saved twice by the party, began to talk amongst themselves. Dolphin began to tell them about the true nature of the Anathema as the party was leaving. After Fern explained herself, she also mentioned to the party that Herek had been muttering about "the mark of the mother" right before he departed. The party, deciding that there was no more they could do there, got in the airship and headed back northward to the tomb of Brigid. Back in the final chamber, they placed the heart-shaped gem and spoke the name of Brigid's Sin. Largo figured it out first, though the reasoning behind the riddle still remained a mystery. "Love." Hero Against Villain The heart in the door cracked, and the doors began to open. But as they did, three familiar faces broke out from the ice, carrying a fourth. Midnight Seen with Closed Eyes, Howl of the Void, and the third Deathknight who introduced himself as "Shadow-Mantled Servant of Secrets Unknowable." Howl held unconscious someone the party hadn't seen in a while. Twice-Blessed Raven. Servant began shaping a spell before the party could react, and Raven was suddenly bound up by chains to a black portal, just like the other sidereal had been. Thinking quickly and using his preternatural capacity for speed, Dax launched his Chain Daiklave at Howl of the Void's outstretched arm, which was holding Raven in place. Howl dropped his grip, and Raven began sagging into the suddenly wildly fluctuating portal. Howl quickly jumped through, then Servant, and Midnight leaped up... and it closed right as she was about to enter it. She landed on the other side, turned to the party, and swore. Midnight decided to have a brief parlay with the party before the battle started, and she and Fern had a heated discussion about the nature of Creation and the Void. Midnight told the party longingly about the relaxing, carefree embrace of the Abyss, but it only seemed to strengthen the party's resolve further. Once the party seemed out of questions, she cheerfully called for "Timothy and Isabel." Several terrifying undead horrors broke out from the ice. Spine chains, collections of upper torsos riveted together running on their hands; limb spiders, consisting of a collection of severed limbs stitched together into a ball; and a horrific collection of zombies and lesser horrors. Midnight drew her small, white knife, as screaming souls began to gather slowly around it - and with a flick of her wrist, it was an enormous blade of Soulsteel. She jumped up and landed on a black-armored Spine Chain whose head appeared to be flaming, and beckoned the party to attack. The combined wrath of the party with their Lunar allies proved to be a glorious sight. Fern sliced up the middle of a Spine Chain with a Guillotine. Serentatis coiled the other in spidery silk, kicking it down toward Dax who ran along atop of it like a rolling barrel, striking lesser horrors. Amber opted to run along top of the undead horde, taunting Midnight and goading her into releasing Resonance. Pick jumped on top of the zombies and started striking them furiously. Leviathan threw a pair of the hundred-limbed horrors to Largo, who cleaved them in half. Midnight swung underneath her terrible mount and dove into the ice. Dax started cleaving the Spine Chain he was standing on in half, several times, then stacking the halves to make his strikes pierce more of the monster. Amber taunted Midnight for retreating into the ice. Leviathan grabbed the tail end of Midnight's spine chain, then beckoned to Largo to strike it. Largo then landed a terrible, devastating blow, not only cleaving it in two but sending holy fire shooting up along the creature. Fern launched another guillotine into the same spine chain, breaking it into smaller pieces. Dax, still standing on the top of the chain he had broken in half several times, was about to be struck by one of the bared heads- but Serentatis instead blasted clean through it with a shot of acid from his mouth. He then dove into the largest horde of zombies, and they were about to overwhelm him, but he activated a charm that made him appear dead, so the zombies in their confusion started attacking each other. Serentatis took advantage of this confusion by leaping atop the mass of creatures and impaling eight, each on one slender spidery leg. Midnight, carried by the momentum from Largo's blow to the spine chain, came flying out of the ice and landed a trio of terrible wounds to Largo, to which Largo responded with a gentle kiss and a less gentle headbutt. Pick began cleaning up, viciously striking the remaining limb spider and setting to work on the zombies. Amber struck Midnight with the blunt side of her violin bow, which Midnight arrogantly took without blocking. Leviathan grabbed Midnight's spine chain by the head and gave it a downward yank, snapping its neck and giving Largo the angle to strike a ringing blow to Midnight's head. She recovered just in time to cleave in half a deadly guillotine from Fern. Dax began whipping around his Chain Daiklave, cutting off the limbs of the spine chain Fern had been working on and destroying it. Leviathan then walked over to the last squirming spine chain and punched it in the face, causing its head to explode. Her creatures destroyed, all eyes turned to Midnight. Then Serentatis released a potent necromancy spell. White crystalline spikes shot out of the floors, walls, and ceilings, pinning the Abyssal in place. Dax jumped up to her and struck a vicious set of blows from above, taking her guard down and leaving her open for other attacks. Pick jumped up and let loose such a fast blow that it seemed his spear never left his side, save for a bloody gash across the Abyssal's cheek. Fern cast Guillotine at a near point-blank range, which Midnight feebly attempted to block with her Daiklave but ended up cutting into her shoulder pretty deeply. Finally, Largo and Leviathan walked up to their beleaguered foe, exchanged a look, and together delivered a single punch. That blow shattered the surrounding crystals and sent Midnight flying hard against the far wall, where she hit with a loud thud and crumpled, nearly unconscious, on the ground. Amber walked up to Midnight, who looked up at her with a gaze of pure hate. "What do you want?" she gasped. Amber replied, "I hope you enjoy your sweet oblivion," grabbing Midnight's hair in one hand, her violin bow in the other, and playing a long, low note across the Abyssal's neck. The remaining few zombies collapsed. The party breathed a sigh of relief, and went to check on Raven, who seemed to just be waking up. But it wasn't over yet. The First and Forsaken A spirit, fully visible to the party, crawled up out of Midnight's body. It seemed disoriented at first, and realizing its situation, began to panic. It told the party its name, Rippled Water, and that it was a mother in the Coral Archipelago, that it regretted its choice and needed to escape... The party offered their yasal crystal, but the ghost shook its head, saying that "He'd find me." Then the spirit gave a cry, and said "He's coming!" A black pool formed around the fallen body of Midnight. From this pool whipped a black soulsteel chain, grabbing the spirit around the ankle, and slamming it into the fallen body. The body's eyes opened with a gasp. More chains rose out of the pit, flailing about, first a few, then dozens, all wrapping around the struggling body. Then the body was slammed into the far wall, and a large soulsteel rectangle arose from the pit, facing the body. With a sickening set of crunches and pops, accompanied by a loud shriek, the chains tore the body apart, and the rectangle turned round, to face the party. Chained to the rectangular center piece was a terrible, tall figure in hideous black soulsteel armor, several soulsteel spikes driven through his body from the rectangle. For a brief moment, the eyes under the visor seemed to flash something akin to humanity, but its focus was on the body it held, somehow still breathing. He began spinning it, then whipping it with his soulsteel chains, twisting it bodily into a single black ring, which he then linked to the end of one of his great chains. He then turned his attentions to the party. Amber made several great dodges, but the sheer quantity of superhumanly fast black chains made it impossible for her to escape. Pick was caught quickly and suspended by his neck. Raven, still weakened, was grabbed and pulled off to the side. Fern made an attempt to dodge, but the chains were too fast for her, and she was suspended in the air alongside her atlatl, which the chains twisted, bent, and then broke. Largo tried to parry the chains with his scythe, but they wrapped around his weapon and tore it from his grasp, and then snapped it in half. Dax put on an impressive display of maneuvers, leaping all abut the room dodging the chains. Serentatis was likewise difficult to capture, making his way almost out the exit in the ceiling. The figure redoubled his efforts, snaking a chain up high into the doorway and grabbing Serentatis before he could make his escape. Amber noticed Leviathan was not being attacked and started shouting at him. Another impressive display of dodging by Dax, and the figure finally managed to grab him, muttering "Damn Night Castes." The chains grabbed Largo, but the Bronze Tiger would not take this as defeat. Summoning every reserve of strength he could manage, he pulled on a single chain as hard as he could. The figure pivoted from its position and hit the wall, letting loose a quiet whimper. But his attentions were drawn on Fern. Seeing the crimson band across her eyes, he became enraged. "Traitor! Liar!" he cried, tearing off one of Fern's arms and cutting off her legs at the knees. Fern began to scream. Tears began to stream down Leviathan's face. Seething with rage, and single chain trailed up Fern's face, pulling back as though to end her life now, when the party heard a cry from the last voice they could have expected. It was none other than Shahra, Largo's Simhata familiar, saying "Forsaken! We had an agreement!" This stayed the figure's deathly appendage. Frustrated, he held the party where they could hear him, and said, "You shall be links in my chain soon enough, and your power will be mine to command. But that day will come soon enough. For now, I have a use for you. It's not something you can choose. You've been very obliging thus far, in fact. Running around, chasing those marvelous little devices the traitor made. No. Your time will come." He then held up Raven, who was still weakly struggling against his bonds. "The Sidereal, however, was not part of the bargain. I think I'll keep him, as a sort of souvenir." And with a low cackle, he sunk down into the black pit he had emerged from, taking the head of the Convention on Deathlords with him. Leviathan rushed over to Fern and took her inside the tomb, with the rest of the party following. There the party found (amongst several books and a golden cauldron) a golden table, which he laid Fern on next to her broken atlatl. A golden hemisphere curled up from the edges of the table and covered her. The party began to angrily demand an explanation from Leviathan, but he stalled until Fern emerged from the table, changed. Her arm and legs had been replaced by biomagitech, and her spear-thrower was now integrated into her arm. Furthermore, a tiara was now adorning her brow. Leviathan turned to the party, bowed his head, and spoke. "I am sorry for all of this deception. It is time you learned the truth. I have not been sitting on my laurels in Luthe for the past 1800 years. I have been searching, across the whole ocean, for the device that had held the shards of the Solars. The Jade Prison. And I found it, but it was beyond my ability to open it. So I made a pact, a deal with the kings of the underworld themselves, and they broke the prison for me at great cost." Shahra stepped forward. "And I served as the mediator. For my soul has been bound to an exaltation since the fall of the Solars. In the first Age, I served a great warlord, and that position has given me a unique existence since. For that thing you saw back in the chamber, that dark figure, was once the soul of Admiral Arcadi." Character Thoughts and Reactions Steve loves this game. He liked how combat with the Lunars ended up working out, and thinks that Midnight reached an appropriate end. Also he's glad that the main plot has finally been revealed. He was also glad that he could make the session fairly dark without it being awkward. Dax is speechless, but his dancing around like a madman with glee should get the point across succinctly enough. Alexa: Holy hell. AWESOME! Largo: is still... Bwa?!?!?!?! Oh, and he wants a Freedom Stone. Teager: ... Followed by Butterfly's Wings, Session Seven, The Verdant Exploration Category:Sunlight on the Water Category:Red Sky at Morning